Just Friends
by ShootinSta
Summary: M/S shippage. Travis reflects on his relationship with Hoshi, and the feelings he has for her, even though they remain just friends.


What am I doing writing this? I have Realities to finish. Hmm.

Inspiration struck, that's why. I really have no earthly idea why this came up -- especially while watching "A Night In Sickbay" -- but oh well. Maybe that's where my decon comment came from...

I've been itching to do a fic like this -- a _real_ fic. This is just to tide me over until a plot idea hits.

It's sap. But sweet sap! …I think.

*********

"I really think we should ban Trip from piloting shuttles. I'm really not sure he can really fly those things."

Hoshi Sato. The girl of his dreams was sitting across from him, eating ravioli and carrying on a simple conversation. They _were_ just friends, after all. That's all she implied wanting...so that's what he was. 

"He does fine for an engineer. I hate how he scratches up my shuttlepods, but at least he knows how to fix them."

She laughed in response -- the laugh he adored so much -- and returned to eating, continuing on with the conversation that he had stopped paying attention to. Instead, he envied the way her lips wrapped delicately around her fork as she ate. He'd give anything to be that fork right about now...

She was every boomer's fantasy. She was _anyone's _fantasy. He couldn't understand why every other male on the ship was caught up on T'Pol. All that woman had was a cold demeanor and the _highly_ logical taste in Vulcan catsu -- er, clothing. Hoshi didn't need a change in uniform to be perfect. He could rarely look from his station to hers, but when he did, she fifty times better looking than that Vulcan.

And when she was concentrating on translations, a thousand times more beautiful. She didn't need a Vulcan fashion sense to be drop-dead gorgeous. She needed no help at all; she most certainly did not. 

"So T'Pol ordered Lieutenant Wilkins over to check my logs and translations..." 

He barely paid attention to the words as they somehow found a way to penetrate to his brain. But as they sunk it, they made him realize how far she'd come over the past year. She'd gone from being shaky and unsure of herself to gaining her space legs in just a year. He was proud of her, and he couldn't even tell her because he was afraid she'd find out. He didn't do many things for fear she'd find out. He rarely complimented her, spoke to her about relationships, and sometimes, couldn't bring himself to make eye contact. 

His infamous 'sentient gelatin lifeform' prank hadn't even started as a practical joke. It was one of those days when he'd decided to tell her how he really felt and to do so, was going to have a romantic picnic. By the time he'd gotten off duty, he'd entirely chickened out. Somehow his picnic turned into strawberry gelatin and he was calling Hoshi down into decon about some sentient lifeform. She was in a huff around him for days because of that, but he could tell she loved it and that made it all worthwhile... Now, why he wanted Hoshi alone in decon was a mystery, but maybe Trip and Malcolm had rubbed off on him. They wanted T'Pol alone, half-naked in the chamber, and _he_ wanted Hoshi there.

But of course, he couldn't think of her that way. It would ruin their friendship if she ever suspected he had feelings for her. She'd stop coming to the dinners he cherished so much, would stop sharing details of her life and stop gossiping to him about the crew. He'd rarely see that beautiful face outside of their shifts. The thought of her removing herself from his life was agonizing to him, so he never let on his feelings.

He was friend, plain and simple. It pained him to limit himself to that relationship, but it's what worked. The bliss of just being in her presence made up for it.

"I need to go. Early shift tomorrow." 

The words caught him by surprise. They -- well, _she_ was in the middle of a perfectly fine conversation. He shook his head of his previous thoughts, before simply grinning at her. "See you then."

She smiled, standing up and picking of her plate. She made to leave the table, the turned around, pausing for a second before she spoke, "Walk up with me? I'm afraid Trip will find me. Lately he won't stop asking me to teach him that First Monarch woman's language. I need protection."

The request made his grin widen further. "Sure, Hoshi. I'm sure Trip will just _run_ from a big, strong man like me." Chucking, he stood up, joining her as she left the table and exited the mess hall. "Maybe you'll teach _me_ her language instead."

She gently punched his shoulder, shaking her head and laughing and the two continued down the corridor. To any passerby, they were just friends -- and really, that's all they were.

Hmm. I was highly intrigued by this story. I think I like. Not terribly good, but I was amused.

Review. I must see if you like.

I'll get to Realities now. It may take a while...but I'll get to the next chapter.

Oh, and in 'Dawn', did anyone else find the captain's comment that Trip was a good pilot _highly_ amusing?


End file.
